Valentine's Day - Bringin' the Festive Back

Since 1979, Valentine's Day has been a double-edged sword for me.

On February 15th of that year, my father passed away due to a stroke and heart attack. He was 47 years old at the time. I was a senior in high school. Coincidentally, I was in the play "Lazarus Laughed" at the time, the theme of which was "there is no death". I was kind of numb until we went to sit down for his memorial service, when I broke down. The directors asked if we wanted to have the curtains drawn and I did not.

Anyway, from the evening before (February 14, 1979), it was obvious that my father did not have long to live. So...Valentine's Day has that little tinge for me.

But now that I have children of my own, I try to be a little more cheerful for the day. My daughter, who just turned 8, especially loves holidays...the decorating, making crafts, celebrating, etc.

And I recently joined swap-bot.com, and am doing a couple of Valentine card/craft swaps with folks, which also brings a little more sense of the festive back.

DH helps, too. He got me a medium-sized fuzzy ladybug (think pillow size). He's a true country boy, and this effort of his is SO appreciated. The only trouble was is that our daughter assumed it was for her, has named her "Spots" and uses Spots for a pillow at night. *lol*

So, while 32 years has passed, and I still miss my father, I know he is in a better place, and I know he knows his grandchildren. And that is all good.

OK..What Impressed Me Was...

OK, what really impressed me about Jacqueline was the amount of love she shows to other blogger's giveaways. So, it was beholdin' upon me to show some love back and pimp her Very First Blog Candy Giveaway!

So, go see her blog, pick up a lot of great ideas, and maybe some candy that won't hurt your teeth! *lol* And while you are there, check out some of her cute designs!

*+*+*+*+*


The Blog Dare for today was giving props to one's best friend. Well, I don't really have a "best" right now, although I do have a number of good friends, but I wanted to show that I had actually written today, because it's the longest streak of blog writing that I've had in some time! Yay me!!!

What I Do and Do Not Miss About High School

This one is kind of tough for me. Sometimes I can hardly remember last week, or yesterday, and they want me to remember high school? Yikes!

I miss some of the people (both students and teachers). I think it's kind of strange that some of my classmates have grandchildren that are the ages of my children (yep, I was an older first-time mom). I miss the feeling that I had more days ahead of me than I do behind. In my senior year, I was on the school paper staff...that was fun.

I don't miss being overweight and painfully introverted.

However, something happened in high school that probably overshadowed anything else "bad" that may have happened. About four months before graduation, my father came home sick from work one day. That was unusual because he was so type "A". A week later he passed away (stroke/heart attack) at the age of 47. I was in a play called "Lazarus Laughed" by Tennessee Williams (I think?) at the time, so the whole theme was like, 'there is no death'. Even in our church community at the time, social invitations kind of dried up after that...like people were afraid death was catching or something.

Yup, I could've done without most of that.

I'm not usually this maudlin, so I'm going to close out this post and go think about my daughter's 8th birthday on 2/2.

Hey, Younger Me!

February 1, 2011

Dear Younger Me,

I'm you from...oh, a couple years in the future. Thought I'd pass along a little information and some tips I've picked up over the years. I just hope it doesn't screw up the time line, KWIM? *lol*

Have a good relationship with God. This is probably the single most important and far-reaching thing you can do to have a good life. The sweetest peace you will ever know will come to you after accepting God's will the morning you think you are having a miscarriage. BTW, the child resulting from that pregnancy will be 8 years old tomorrow. (It's really a coincidence that her initials are TAO.)

It's ok to step outside your comfort zone every once in a while. It will not kill you. I am living proof of that. I'm not saying it won't be scary and uncomfortable but the rewards are great. Being the only non-line officer to compete in the MUJD contest in 1980 and winning, finally auditioning for a play and getting a role, going to the lawyer and finding out that MIL really did not have standing to try and get custody of the boys...you'll be walking on AIR that day.

Appreciate your Mom and Dad more. They won't be with you forever.

You are a valuable, talented person. It is possible to believe in yourself when others don't, and to show them you are right. To quote Shakespeare, whom I know we both love, "To thine own self be true, and then it follows as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." It's ok not to follow the herd.

Love yourself, your family and your friends.

Oh, and brush your teeth. And floss,

Love,
Me

I Guess I Chose "Truth"

Sorry, just my little attempt at being punny. I joined Bloggy Moms' Blog Dare group around the middle of the month and posted about a week ago. They have a prompt for each day of the month and all I managed was one entry. But I'm counting this round as a win because it ended one of the longer dry blog spells for me of recent memory.

I find the daily prompts extremely valuable for a couple of reasons. Everybody has dry spells. And with my recent surgery, etc, sometimes my motivation lags more than usual. I am also looking forward to February and more consistent blogging.

As for my knee, there is more soreness than pain now, and rather limited range of motion. I can neither completely straighten nor bend my knee very far. But I start pt tomorrow, 3x per week for 4 weeks.

Blog Hopping Weekend!

I'm kind of new to the world of blog hops, so when I found the "Fun Weekend Blog Hop" hosted by Raven of "Pumps, Pacifiers and the World" I had to get my hoppin' shoes on! WAHOO!

I've had 3 children and pumped for all of them. I nursed the first two. My daughter was born at 32 weeks and they tube fed her for a while...long enough so that she never took to nursing, but I still pumped, so she got breast milk. Her 8th birthday is next week...and she is VERY excited! *lol*

Like Joanna of "Figuring Out the Small Stuff", I hate having to give something a numerical rating as a measure of value. It rates right up there with the questions "Does this make me look fat?" and, "So what do you think of my new boyfriend?" ;)

Another new bloggy friend I made today is Jacqueline of "Chez Mukweto". Like me, she educates her children at home. She is also my new crafting idol.

I'm a bit jealous of MizReviewLady at "Mommy Reviews and More" because of her new socks. You'll have to visit her to find out why! *hahaha*

So...what's new in my life?

At the end of September, I was kicked in the knee at work (a residential/teaching facility for adults with MR/DD). A week ago Monday I finally had an operation and I'm recuperating from that. I'm sore and grouchy...but my family has been great, picking up the slack and all. A lady from church even brought over supper one day last week to help out.

So while the pain and lower income kind of, well, suck, I have had more time to spend with my family. I went to work the week after DD came home from the hospital and with one or two exceptions, I have been working since she was born and feel like I have missed so much. So this time is very, very precious to me.

Blog Dare - How I Use Social Media

So the bloggy dare for today, January 22, 2011, is "How do you use social media?"

I use social media mostly for social reasons. I've done some outreach to other mom bloggers, but have not really made a "business" use of it...yet. Maybe if I reversed the percentages of time I spend playing FarmVille et al and the time I spend blogging and developing business, that would change. *lol*

My main reason for looking to change blogging to more of a business is that in the past year, I have been on medical leave from my job at a residential/teaching facility for adults with MR/DD. The first time was 1/24/10 to June 2010 for an elbow/shoulder injury (that is still hurting) and the 2nd time was/is from 9/28/2010 to the present for a knee injury. In fact, I just had surgery on my knee on Monday. I still don't know what the outcome will be. I doubt I will be able to return to similar work. Right now, just standing up for more than 15 minutes is a challenge. (Oh yes, I have consulted an attorney, who tells me that while related medical bills can be covered for as long as the condition exists, there is little hope of any other monetary outcome. I'd like to think I'm not greedy, but my family has lost our health insurance due to the length of time I've been on medical leave.

Any tips, etc, would be welcome. Thanks for visiting and reading! "O)